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When the Hurricanes played the Blues in Wellington several weeks ago. They won that match, but missed out in the return fixture on Saturday in their 20th match played on Eden Park.
The Hurricanes met the Aucklanders at Eden Park this past Saturday, missing out to them. Some facts and figures from that fixture by Peter Marriott below.
Week 12 v Blues: Lost 27-31
The Hurricanes and the Blues have now met on 42 occasions. The Hurricanes have won 20 matches to the Blues 21. There has been one drawn match.
The two sides met earlier in Week 3 when the Hurricanes prevailed 29-21.
Week 12 was designated the Culture Round.
This was the Hurricanes 20th match to be played at Eden Park in Auckland. That is the most Super Rugby matches they have played on any ground with the exception of the 148 they have hosted at Westpac/Sky Stadium. They have played 19 matches at GIO Stadium in Canberra.
The Hurricanes loss by four points is their smallest margin of defeat against the Blues since losing 17-19 at Eden Park in 2008.
This is the eighth time the Hurricanes have lost a match by four points: but the first time against the Blues.
The Hurricanes have lost their last four matches played against the Blues in Auckland.
This loss against the Blues brought an end to a run of five successive wins against New Zealand sides. The Blues had also been the last team to beat the Hurricanes: 36-25 at Auckland in May last year.
The Hurricanes have slipped down into second place after heading the Standings for the last four weeks in a row. The Blues have replaced them at the top.
The Hurricanes have been behind at halftime on just two occasions in the 11 matches they have played this year. They lost both times.
The Hurricanes have scored 129 tries against the Blues. This is one more than the 128 scored against the Highlanders but four short of their record 133 scored against the Chiefs.
During the match the Hurricanes brought up 500 points in their away matches to the Blues. The total now sits on 526 points.
An interesting sequence of results have developed in the Hurricanes last 10 matches against the Blues. The Hurricanes have Lost, Lost, Won, Lost, Lost, Won, Lost, Lost, Won and Lost.
This was the Hurricanes third match this season with referee James Doleman in charge. Amazingly, in all three matches the other officials have also been the same. Jono Bredin and Fraser Hannon have been the two assistant referees and Chris Hart has been the TMO in every game.
The Hurricanes made six changes to their starting line-up from the fifteen who started in last week’s match against the Waratahs. There were three changes in the backs and three in the forwards.
There were three late changes to the Hurricanes original starting lineup for the match: Tyrel Lomax, Caleb Delany and Billy Proctor were all withdrawn.
Brad Shields captained the Hurricanes for the just the second occasion against the Blues: exactly six years to the day since his first time. That match was also played at Eden Park and the Hurricanes won 36-15.
Shields scored his 12th try in his 109th Super Rugby appearance. It was his first against the Blues.
Josh Moorby’s try was his 20th in his 34th match. He had scored three previous tries against the Blues: one in 2023 and a double in the match played earlier this season during Week 3.
Peter Lakai scored his fourth try in 17 matches. It was his first against the Blues.
Peter Lakai’s try was the 400th to be scored by a Hurricanes forward. The balance of the Hurricanes 1387 tries scored in all Super Rugby matches is made up of 982 by the backs and five penalty tries.
Super Rugby record try scorer TJ Perenara extended his record out to 64 tries, in 159 appearances. Seven of his tries have been scored against the Blues.
Jordie Barrett has had limited time at the kicking tee but his three out of three attempts kept his record (seven from seven) perfect for the season. His seven points in the match took his overall tally in all appearances against the Blues to 80 points.
Richard Judd was named on the replacement bench but took no part in the match.
Bryce Heem, Cole Forbes and Angus Ta’avao all scored their first try against the Hurricanes.
Mark Telea has now scored 34 tries in Super Rugby, eight of which are against the Hurricanes. He scored one in 2020, one in 2021, four in the match played at Auckland last year, one in Week 3 and now this one.
Doug Howlett scored 10 tries for the Blues against the Hurricanes.
Harry Plummer’s 11 points took his tally against the Hurricanes to 40.
Josh Beehre was named on the Blues replacement bench but took no part in the match.
Akira Ioane was awarded a yellow card at the 30 minute mark.
Overall, the Hurricanes have now played 402 Super Rugby matches. They have won 231 (57.5%), lost 165 and drawn six.
